Radiation: 614 Real Stories
614 stories match radiation. 511 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Regina’s Patient Story
Regina Ritter was 51 at the time of her interview and a mother of 4. Her breast cancer began in May 2008, when she was 47 and felt something painful and very large in her right breast. Further examinations found a tumor, and CT also showed a liver metastasis…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Leftfootforward’s Survivor Story
Leftfootforward was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her treatment began with A/C chemotherapy and then Herceptin. She had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by 36 rounds of radiation. Herceptin continued for about 8…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Michelle’s Survivor Story
Michelle Hardiman, from Norden, was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2023. She was referred to The Christie at Oldham for radiotherapy because it was closer to home than the main Christie site in Withington. The location mattered. Radiotherapy left her…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Cindy-Anne’s Survivor Story
Cindy-Anne Manoo was working as a personal support worker when a resident accidentally hit her in the chest. A sore area remained, and she later felt a lump. Ultrasound, mammogram, and biopsy led to a breast cancer diagnosis on December 21, 2021, her 44th…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Toni’s Patient Story
Toni S was 59 when she was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in February 2021. She learned that this type of breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive, and her oncologist explained that there were medicines that could target her…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie Hargis was 25 when she found a painful lump in her right breast in March 2022. With no family history and her young age, she and her clinicians first thought it might be an inflamed lymph node. Ultrasound and biopsy instead showed Stage II…
Read this storyInvasive Ductal Carcinoma: LAM64’s Survivor Story
LAM64 was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2019 after imaging of the left breast showed a mass at the 3 o’clock position. Follow-up mammogram and ultrasound at Emory Breast Center confirmed the mass and also showed an enlarged left axillary lymph…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Sandra’s Survivor Story
Sandra Christianson was born in 1972 and lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 15. In her late 30s, she was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and chose lumpectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. A port was placed in late February 2012…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: June’s Patient Story
June Lee first had breast cancer in April 2005, when she was 43. A mammogram found early signs of cancer in her left breast, even though the lump she had felt was on the right. She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, had a lumpectomy, and received…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marta’s Survivor Story
Marta was 38 in 2009 when a routine checkup found a breast tumor. She had recently returned to Spain after working in Poland, and surgery confirmed the tumor was malignant. What followed was a long and frightening 5-year path that included chemotherapy…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Ulrike’s Survivor Story
Ulrike Blessinger was 40 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Cancer was already familiar in her family, so she had thought about the subject before, but the diagnosis still changed her life. She found some comfort in having choices and a clear…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marie-Ève’s Survivor Story
Marie-Ève was a mother of 3 young children when she faced breast cancer 16 years before sharing her story. Her treatment path included chemotherapy, mastectomy, radiation therapy, reconstruction, and hormone therapy. She described those treatments as…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Corinne’s Patient Story
Corinne was 54 when breast cancer became a central part of her life. Her story describes more than a single treatment moment: it includes repeated breast cancer experiences over several years and the emotional work of continuing forward after each step…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Sylvie’s Patient Story
Sylvie was 40 when she faced breast cancer. Her care began with breast-conserving surgery, and her story later included treatment for recurrence. The experience meant moving through more than 1 phase of cancer care, rather than closing the chapter after the…
Read this storyStage II Breast Cancer: Danielle’s Survivor Story
Danielle was 68 when she faced Stage II breast cancer. Her treatment path was intensive and included a mastectomy, chemotherapy, 5 weeks of radiation therapy, and immunotherapy described as a way to lower the chance of recurrence. The physical side of…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Danièle’s Survivor Story
Danièle’s breast cancer was diagnosed quickly after a bra underwire left a mark and her gynecologist sent her for imaging. On February 4, 2016, ultrasound and biopsy raised immediate concern, and by February 11 she was told it was breast cancer that was…
Read this storyStage IV Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
This story was shared by a pharmacist caring for her uncle after he was diagnosed in July 2020 with inoperable small cell lung cancer. Doctors estimated a life expectancy of 7 months with chemotherapy. Alongside chemotherapy, his caregiver introduced…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Annette’s Survivor Story
Annette Huber was 48 when she reflected on breast cancer that began years earlier with a lump in her right breast. At first, the path to diagnosis felt long and frustrating. She repeatedly sensed that something was wrong, but felt that her concerns were not…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer Patient Story
This story was shared by the sister of a woman with aggressive lung cancer and bone metastases. The cancer involved the skull and spine and had caused a clavicle fracture. Around the same time, doctors also found a localized 4 cm breast cancer. She received…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Klaus’s Patient Story
Klaus Deckmann was 66 and newly retired when breast cancer was diagnosed in early 2020. He had felt repeated pressure in his breast, and because his mother had died of breast cancer, he pushed himself to see his family doctor. Ultrasound, mammography, biopsy…
Read this storyLung Cancer: François’s Survivor Story
François was 62 when he shared his experience of lung cancer. The first clear warning sign came at work, when he coughed blood into a white tissue. He waited 4 days before telling his wife, Françoise, because he did not want to frighten her. His doctor…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Silvia’s Patient Story
Silvia Litsching was 61, married, and the mother of 2 adult children when she described more than 20 years with breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 1990 at age 38 after insisting that a breast lump be checked, even though earlier examinations had seemed…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Thierry’s Survivor Story
Thierry was 55 when unusual neurologic symptoms led to his lung cancer diagnosis in May 2014. He had headaches for a week, seemed “strange” to people around him, struggled to handle objects, felt numbness around his mouth, and behaved unusually while driving…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Claudia’s Survivor Story
Claudia Kressmann was 51 when she reflected on breast cancer diagnosed at 35, while her 3 children were still young. She had felt a lump herself, and because of her age there was first hope that it would be something less serious. The diagnosis was breast…
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